Leo Igwe is a skeptical activist and human rights advocate from Nigeria, and is a former representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union. He has bravely worked to end a variety of human rights violations, including homophobia, sorcery, witchcraft, ritual killing, human sacrifice, “untouchability”, caste discrimination, “child witch” superstition, and anti-blasphemy laws. He is presently enrolled in a three year research programme on “Witchcraft accusations in Africa” at the University of Bayreuth, in Germany.

Doors open at 19:00, for a start at 19:30.

Accessibility: As per the policy of the Admiral Bar, access to the venue “can only be provided to patrons who are sufficiently mobile and capable of independently evacuating premises, or with the minimum of assistance.” Unfortunately,

The next in a series of meetings to form a social centre collective. After our last meet we decided that all members of the collective would work towards a shared set of aims & principles (both in terms of the ideals of any project we undertake and the physical requirements of such a project) and work towards a shared safer space policy that every collective member would actively work to uphold.

This meeting looks to carry on the conversation about what these will all look like.

The author John Barker will read from his recently published novel Futures (PM Press, 2014). He will be joined by Glasgow-based writer, Bechaela Walker, reading from her recent work. The readings will be followed by a discussion on the nature and possibilities of ‘political fiction’. This will encompass questioning the very nature of political fiction; varieties of such work; and an estimate of what such fiction can do that other writing, whether reportage, theory, history or philosophy cannot do. Despite all the sociological analysis of people’s limited time in the internet age, does political fiction ‘reach places other writing cannot’? Writers, readers and anyone with an interest in such questions are welcome.

John Barker was born in London in 1948. In 1969, along with six others, he ripped up his Cambridge University Finals papers as part of a campaign against education as a system of exclusion. In 1972, in what was called the Angry Brigade trial, he was convicted with three others of conspiring to cause explosions. He served a ten-year prison sentence. A crafted memoir of this internment, Bending the Bars, was published many years later. He worked as a dustman and welder before being implicated in a conspiracy to import cannabis in 1986. In 1990 he was finally arrested and served a five-year sentence. Since then he has worked constantly as a writer and book indexer.

“In this fast-paced, streetwise take on eighties London, boundaries blur between the cocaine trade and newly deregulated financial markets. High and low life don’t look so different, as everyone tries to make a killing. Barker’s portrait of a cynical, money-hungry culture skewers a moment in history that for good or ill (and mostly for ill) made Britain what it is today”. Hari Kunzru, The Impressionist

Why does it seem like every other day we hear news about another scandal: banks fixing interest rate; mortgage companies giving loans to those who can’t afford them; investment firms scamming their investors; and corporations covering up evidence of profiting from crime. The above are just some of the more recent stories we’ve all heard.

This presents a challenge to psychologists – how can we understand and explain how so many people commit obviously immoral acts?

Adam will dissect a number of famous cases of corporate violence and corruption, focusing on the elements they share in common, and argue that otherwise normal people can easily become co-conspirators in horrifyingly immoral actions.

Dr Adam Moore received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2011, where his work focused on developing a computational model of the cognitive processes underlying moral judgement. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging, at the Georgia Institute for Technology, where he conducted neuroimaging investigations into self-control, working memory, and attentional focus. He accepted a faculty position at the University of Edinburgh in 2012, where he continues to research judgement and decision making, moral psychology, and human cognition. Adam spoke to Glasgow Skeptics in December 2013, in a talk titled, “Moral Judgment and Moral Emotion: What Have We Learned About Mass Atrocity?”

Accessibility: As per the policy of the Admiral Bar, access to the venue “can only be provided to patrons who are sufficiently mobile and capable of independently evacuating premises, or with the minimum of assistance.” Unfortunately, this leaves the basement inaccessible to most wheelchair users.

Recent media coverage of high profile sexual abuse cases prompted some commentators to question if we are witnessing a ‘moral panic’ in relation to sexual abuse. Join us for presentations and debate about the implications of framing sexual abuse in these terms for survivors, practitioners and researchers.

This half day seminar organised by the Gender Based Violence Research Network is free to attend, but places are limited.

On Thursday 30th October the Old Hairdressers will be hosting a meeting for punks and other musical miscreants interested in discussing ideas for the creation of new DIY spaces for practice, performance and connected activities in Glasgow. Inspired by recent developments in England such as JT Soar and DIY Space For London, as well as the long-standing European autonomous centre model(s), the evening will be an opportunity to put forward proposals, consider practicalities, make connections with like-minded people, and most importantly to form plans of action to live up to those three letters we hold so dear.

Prior to the discussion, we’re hoping to be able to screen NO FUN CITY (2010, 84 mins). The film documents the Vancouver punk scene’s fight to sustain itself in the context of and in opposition to local bureaucracy and creeping gentrification, themes particularly pertinent to our own fair city.

Closing off the night will be DJs and a performance from BLACK COP on the first date of their European ‘fact-finding mission’. Afficianados of all things angry will be as equally enthused as doyens of daft dancing by this tour-de-force of whirlwind hardcore punk.

Doors 7pm, film screening begins 7.30pm
Suggested donation £3

All money received after costs will be donated to the Unity Centre, which provides practical solidarity and support for asylum seekers in Glasgow (for more information see http://unitycentreglasgow.org/)

The housing monster’s voracious appetite for land and rent has pushed the cost of living to breaking point. In Glasgow, public housing has been eradicated since stock transfer in 2003. Rents in the ‘social housing’ sector inexorably move closer to private-market levels. Mortgage rates continue to rise disproportionately to people’s income, and housing is the staple ingredient of the debt-based economy. Yet ‘the housing question’ seems strangely absent from current debates. This event places housing at the front of the agenda, creating a forum for debate, discussion, and resistance.

The day will comprise three films on housing which will be used to prompt discussion about the current state of housing in the UK, and Scotland more specifically. In the morning we will discuss the current (miserable) state of housing across tenures and in the afternoon we will discuss the forms of organisation around housing that might be possible or desirable in the current era.

We want to engage with a range of different groups. Not with the intention of generating a false unity, but with the hope that we can learn from each others’ struggles through discussion and find ways to challenge the housing monster in the present and future. It is our contention that these struggles will have to be undertaken at a range of different levels and that a plurality of struggles, both defensive and offensive, is welcome and necessary. All those with similar interests are warmly invited.